Process of Booking

Submitted by admin on Wed, 03/14/2012 - 16:14

The Process of Booking in California

The process of booking in California is a series of steps that need to be performed in order to properly create a criminal record for the arrested individual. Another objective is to provide the accused the basic necessities during this preliminary incarceration until bail hearings are undertaken.

The following steps is a summary description of the process of booking in California when arrested for suspicion of committing a criminal offense:

The arrested individual is brought to the police station physically restrained to prevent the individual from hurting themselves and others around them. At the police station's reception area, the arrested individual would again be physically searched for any weapon or illegal items on their person before going to booking.

The process of booking commences when the individual arrested is asked their personal information such as name, address and other pertinent data. All this information would be placed in a national criminal database to determine their previous history and find if there are outstanding warrants for the individual's arrest. This would also help in the determination for bail eligibility or if the arrested individual needs to remain in police custody.

If bail is not given the option for bail or there are pending warrants against the individual arrested, then the accused is remanded to the custody of the police authorities for the duration of the trial. During this time, the individual is placed in county jail until the order of release from the court is issued.

When entering as a detention prisoner, the accused would be required to surrender all personal effects to the jail custodian. All the clothes and other paraphernalia, saved those that are illegal or proceeds of a crime would be itemized and then placed in a sealed container. During their stay in prison, the accused would be given jail standard clothing and other items, including a pillow and blanket.